Pouncival's Predictament
by Serendipity Kat
Summary: [CATS] A short oneshot about Pouncival. Full of fluff. Please read AN at the beginnning.


Hello, loves. I got this idea from Mystitat's Fanfic Ideas. I feel like being lazy, so ignore the tags.

Purrs, Anglina

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pouncival's Predicament

p "You're gonna fall if you're not careful!" Tumblebrutus called up to his friend.

p Pouncival was sitting on his normal chair high above the junkyard. Normally he would try to pounce on the other cats, but not today.

p "I know, Tumble." He said irritably. "But it itches!"

p For the last week he'd developed a very, very bad case of fleas. He was the only cat who didn't use Advantage (a type of flea medicine). He could barely walk a few feet before he had to stop and scratch or bite. As a result, his white and brown head fur was red and very scruffy.

p "AAAHHHHHH!" Pouncival suddenly yelled.

p Everybody turned around to see him tumble off of the chair and land on his head.

p "Ooowwwweeee. Mommy, my head hurts." He said. He looked around and then collapsed.

p There was shocked silence for a while and then everybody burst out laughing.

p "Did my eyes deceive me, or did I just see Pouncival actually fall off his chair?" Demeter asked in disbelief to no one in perticular.

p But there, on the ground in front of the chair was a mass of pink, brown and white fur. The mass of fur started to move and Pouncival's head emerged.

p "Tumble, what happened?" he asked dazedly. He then winced and began to scratch at his neck again. He got up and tried to walk, but he only made it a few steps until he had to stop to scratch his ears again. "Stupid fleas!" he growled as his brother tried to stifle another laugh. "It's not funny Tumblebrutus! Wait till it happens to you!"

p Tumble just snickered. "Not my fault you were out chasing Jemima when the missus came home with the medicine. It's also not my fault that she didn't remember to give it to you when you finally decided to show your face."

p The two of them tried to make their way to their shared home. Well… at least Tumblebrutus was making progress; Pouncival on the other hand could only walk a few feet until he had to scratch again. It was after dark when the two of them finally made it home.

p Danielle (their mistress) was waiting for them with her hands on her hips. "Well, Leaper (Pouncival) and Demon (Tumblebrutus), where were you? I almost locked the door on you. Tsk, tsk, tsk." She commented as her two cats trotted past her. At least Tumblebrutus did. Pouncival was scratching. She reached down and picked him up despite his meows. But as she scratched him behind his ears, he broke into loud purrs. "Well," she laughed lightly as she sat down on the couch, Leaper still in her hands and Demon in her lap. "that feels good, huh, Leaper? You have fleas. And you have them very bad. I'll have to take you to the vet tomorrow."

p At that, Pouncival tried to jump off. "You're not taking me to the vet, Danielle!" he yelled. But to humans it sounds like a cry.

p "Oh hush, you. You weren't around when I had the medicine and now you have to pay the price for it. I'm putting both of you in your kennels for the night." She said very matter-of-factly.

p Tumblebrutus meowed angrily. "But I didn't do anything!" he whined as Danielle picked him up and pushed him into the carrier.

p "There. That way you won't get into trouble." She said, ignoring his cries.

p Tumblebrutus glared back up at her.

p Her red lips curled up in a slight smile. "If I let you out to sleep, you'll somehow get your brother out of the cage and then where will we be? You two are the biggest troublemakers I have ever seen."

p "Then you've never been hit by Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer." he muttered under his breath. But his mutterings came out as a growl, not words.

p "Yes, you'll stay in tonight. Goodnight loveys." Her high heels clicked against the wood stairs as she left the living room.

p "Help, Tumble!" Pouncival called as he continued to scratch. He had been put in a carrier next to his brother.

p Tumble glared as best as he could at his brother. "How can I help you if I'm caught too?" he asked sarcastically. He was unusually grumpy due to the fact that he was also confined in a cage that wasn't too comfy. He lay his head down on his paws as he continued to grumble unhappily.

p In the other cage, however, Pouncival couldn't get comfortable. "Stupid fleas. Doesn't…wanna…mmrmrgnuuu…grrrrr…I…mmmfph…" he muttered to himself as he tried to get to sleep. Finally, too tired to scratch anymore, he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

p center The next day… /center

p "Alright you two. Here we go." Danielle said as she opened the car door and hauled out two carriers with meowing kittens in them. "Oh, hush. If one of you has something, odds are that the other one has it too. So you can quit complaining, Demon."

p Ring, ring. The bell above the door opened.

p "Welcome. And who do we have here?" came the voice of the vet, Dr. Miracle. (If anybody understands who that is, good for you! )

p "This is Leaper and Demon." Danielle said as she set both carriers on the counter. "Leaper has a bad case of fleas and I think Demon might have them too."

p "Well, let's take a look at them." Dr. Miracle stated as she opened the Leaper's cage.

p "Hey," Pouncival started to cry out, but stopped when he had to scratch. "Watch," scratch, "what," scratch, "you're," scratch, "doing." He spat between scratches.

p The vet ignored his cries as she picked him up and set him on the stainless steel examination table. There were bright lights glaring overhead and numerous instruments lying on a clean towel. She ran her hands over his fur.

p "Yep, there is a large concentration of flea dirt-" she stopped suddenly and spread some fur apart on his side. "And look here." There was a puncture wound about the width of a dime almost invisible underneath the brown and white fur.

p A couple of days later…

p "Come on, Pounce!" whined Tumblebrutus. He was getting tired of his brother's complaining.

p "No. I'm not going out there like this." He said from his basket.

p "But you need to leave the house sometime." Tumble pushed. Yes, his brother looked funny, but it wasn't a reason for Pouncival to refrain from socialization.

p "But everyone will laugh. And you know Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer will torment me to no end." He stood up as best he could.

p "So? Who cares? If they do, they'll get in trouble by Munkustrap." Tumble countered. He was lucky he didn't have anything wrong with him. Pouncival, on the other hand… he chuckled to himself.

p Soon the two cats were trotting down the street. Well, at least Tumblebrutus was, Pouncival was kind of skipping/hopping.

p When they arrived at the junkyard, all movement stopped when the rest of the Jellicle tribe laid eyes on them. Pouncival looks liked he'd been through a lawn-mower. His middle had a big bald patch on his right side and in the middle of the patch was a large white gauzy piece of material. But that wasn't the worst. The worst lay around his neck in the form of a white, stiff collar.

p "What happened, Pouncival?" Munkustrap asked as he tried to stifle his chuckles.

p The rest of the kittens, on the other hand, couldn't contain themselves and were rolling on the ground laughing their heads off.

p Pouncival glared at his friends. "I got some kind of injury and have to wear this collar. It stops me from trying to bite the stitches out." He replied grumpily.

p Just then a blur of multicolored fur bounced into the junkyard.

p "Pouncy, what happened!" yelled one decidedly accented female voice while another male-like accented voice cried at the same time,

p "You look funny!"

p Two heads emerged from the mass of fur.

p "For your information, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, I have an injury and fleas." He glared again at the tribe's troublemakers.

p They both stared at him and then burst out laughing.

p But then a voice called out, "Hey! Who took my collar!"

p The calico mates immediately stopped laughing and looked at each other. They started to cackle and raced off much to the annoyance of Rum Tum Tugger who stalked into the clearing. The handsome maned cat was livid. However, his expression changed once he saw what had happened to Pouncival. In a flash he went from being pissed off to cracking up in laughter.

p "Wha- wha- what happened t- t- to you?" he tried to speak and laugh at the same time. It wasn't working too well.

p Pouncival rolled his eyes and started to walk away.

p "Wait up, Pounce!" Tumblebrutus called. He gave Tugger a dirty look and then went after his brother. He followed Pouncival to a deserted part of the junkyard and sat down next to him. "Why'd you run away?"

p Pouncival laid his head on his paws and sighed. "I told you they'd laugh. Did you see how she was laughing with the rest of them?" he said rather forlornly.

p Tumble sighed in sympathy. He knew who "she" referred to: Jemima. His brother had a terribly huge crush on the black and maroon calico. "I'm sorry, Pouncival, but I mean, really. Come on, you do look funny."

p "Thanks a lot, Tumble. Now Jemima'll never..." He said mournfully.

p "I'll never, what?" came a voice.

p Both Tumblebrutus and Pouncival looked up to see Jemima come out from behind a trash pile. Pouncival's pointed ears began to burn in embarrassment.

p Tumblebrutus looked uncomfortable. "Uh… I'll leave you two alone." He said hurriedly and took off, leaving Pouncival with his crush.

p "Hi." Pouncival said nervously. He tried to turn his head around to itch his side, but was hindered by the white collar.

p "Here, let me help." Jemima said softly. She came over and began to scratch around the bandage.

p The brown and white tom broke out into a purr. "You're sweet, Jemima." He blurted out.

p "Do, do you really mean that?" she asked timidly.

p Pouncival froze for a minute and tried to get his thoughts in order, but his mouth didn't listen to his brain. "Of course I do. IlikeyouJemima." He rushed the last part.

p Jemima stopped scratching him and stared at him.

p He looked down at his paws. 'What the heck did I say?' he asked himself. 'Did I really tell her…?'

p "What did you say?" Jemima asked quietly.

p Pouncival paused and took a deep breath. "I… like… you… Jemima."

p She smiled and brought her paws to his face. "I like you too."

p He tried to look around. "You mean, you really like me even with this collar and the fact that half my fur is gone?"

p She brought her lips to his and kissed him square on the mouth. "What do you think?"


End file.
